Oil change prompter and coin-bill holder



Jun 23, 1964 c. J. WHITE 3,138,244

OIL CHANGE PROMPTER AND COIN-BILL. HOLDER Filed Feb. 26, 1962 Fig./

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United States Patent 3,138,244 OIL CHANGE PROMPTER AND (JOIN-BILL HOLDER Charles J. White, 244 Linden Ave, Towson, Md. Filed Feb. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 175,744 9 Claims. (Cl. 206-.81)

The present invention generally relates to a vehicle accessory and more particularly to an attachment to be disposed in the interior of the vehicle adjacent the position of the operator so that it will be readily observable and accessible to the vehicle operator and including novel structural features for supporting a plurality of coins of various denominations, paper money bills and a tab or card having indicia thereon designating the mileage on the speedometer at which lubricating oil in the vehicle should be next changed or was last changed.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an oil change prompter for a vehicle in which the oil change mileage reading may be observed from a visible insert tab or card of a particular shape and dimension that fits into a pocket or slot whereby the oil change prompter will serve as a reminder to the operator of the vehicle that the oil needs changing and also will serve to remind the vehicle operator as to which oil company provided the prompter and thus suggests to the operator that the oil provided by this particular company couldbe used since this particular company provided the prompter.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an oil change prompter and coin and bill holder which provides a slot or slots to hold a coin or coins or paper money bills so that they may be held firmly without rattling or becoming loose but still be individually visible and easily picked up from the slot or slots so that such coins may be readily accessible for use. Coins and paper money bills are quite necessary in travelling when encountering toll roads, bridges or the like and coins of various denominations are especially desirable when passing through toll gates having correct change only lanes since this expedites passage through the toll gate.

The coin and bill holder is quite useful with or without the oil prompter feature since it is always desirable to have change conveniently handy not only for toll roads, bridges and the like but also for insertion into parking meters when required and for making telephone calls from phone booths which are quite often placed at strategic locations along highways, streets and the like.

An important object of the oil change prompter structure of the present invention is the provision of a specially shaped tab or card and a specially shaped pocket or slot for receiving the tab or card thus preventing competitive oil companies from placing a regular rectangular or square tab or card into the specially shaped slot. The oil change prompter and coin and bill holder may conveniently be in the form of a plastic body having appropriate slots formed therein which may be attached to the dashboard of a vehicle in any suitable manner such as by adhesive, magnets or the like. A pressure sensitive adhesive is entirely adequate for this purpose and it may be placed on the bottom of the body for attachment to a generally horizontal surface of the dashboard or it may be placed on the rear surface of the plastic block or body for attachment to a generally vertical surface of the dashboard or to the windshield where it connects with the dashboard.

The oil change prompter and coin and bill holder also will have advertisement or the name of the oil company or service station which provided the device and which also provides the proper size insert tab thus influencing the vehicle operator to return to the service station or to the same oil company for oil change.

It is another very important object of the present inice vention to provide an oil change prompter and coin and bill holder that is simple in construction, easy to attach to various vehicles, efficient in holding coins and paper money bills, effective in advertising a particular product and reminding the vehicle operator of the mileage at which the oil should be changed and suggesting that the company giving the device be patronized and generally inexpensive to manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the oil change prompter and coin and bill holder of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 22 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the construction of the device; and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of the present invention.

Referring now specifically to FIGURES 1 and 2, the numeral 10 generally designates the oil change prompter and coin and bill holder of the present invention which includes a generally parallelepiped block or body 12 preferably constructed of plastic material but not necessarily limited to plastic material. The corners of the generally elongated rectangular body 12 are rounded for neatness in appearance and to eliminate sharp corners. The block may be either of clear plastic or opaque with any suitable color. The, particular shape and size of the body may vary. In FIGURES 1 and 2, the rear surface of the body 12 is provided with a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive 14 provided with a protective peel-off paper 16 by virtue of which the adhesive is protected until it is ready for use for mounting the body 12 on a generally vertical portion of a vehicle dashboard 18 thus securing the body 12 in position on the dashboard 18.

Adjacent the front top edge of the body 12 there is provided a generally vertical disposed slot or pocket 20 having the front wall thereof cut away into a generally wide V-shaped configuration with the edges of the top wall being designated by reference numeral 22. The wall 22 projects slightly above the bottom of the slot, groove or pocket 20 thus providing a groove for receiving the bottom edge of a triangular tab or card 24 having numeri cal indicia imprinted thereon designating the mileage at which the oil was last changed. Disposed on the front surface of the body 12 is indicia 28 designating the significance of the numerical indicia and also advertising the oil product or the company which provides the tabs or cards 24. Also, the indicia 28 may include a safety slogan, if desired.

Disposed rearwardly of the slot or pocket 20 is a pair of grooves or slots 30 and 32 which receive a plurality of coins 34 and 36 respectively. The grooves or slots 30 and 32. do not extend completely through the body and are tapered for purposes of wedging or gripping the coins so that they are securely held in place but will not rattle. The rear slot 32 may be deeper and wider for receiving larger and thicker coins while the front slot may be shallower and narrower for receiving smaller and thinner coins such as dimes.

The body 12 is provided with a slot 38 extending diagonally therethrough with the top edge of the slot 33 being disposed intermediate the slots or grooves 30 and 32 and the bottom edge of the slot 38 being disposed forwardly of the rear surface of the body 12. The slot 38 is adapted to receive one or more folded paper money bills 40 of any suitable dimension thus maintaining these bills in readily accessible position. Additionally or optionally, the body 12 is provided with an inclined slot 42 having an entrance just below the pocket and an exit spaced rearwardly of the front surface of the body 12 for receiving another folded paper money bill 44.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a modified form of the present invention in which the body is provided with rounded ends and provided with an adhesive mounting assembly 52 along the bottom edge thereof. The top of the body 50 is provided with coin slots 54 and a bill receiving slot 56 therein. The front surface of the body 5-9 is provided with a generally triangular cut out area 53 which communicates with a pocket having and end opening 60 in one end of the body 50 by which a triangular shaped tab or card may be inserted through the entrance opening 60 into the pocket so that the tab or card 62 will be visible and is provided with indicia indicating the mileage for the next oil change. The coin slot and bill slot structures are substantially the same but in this construction the bill slot does not extend all the way through to the bottom of the body 50 and the front surface of the body is uninterrupted below the cutout area 58 thus providing adequate room for advertising indicia for the oil company.

By merely omitting the structure which enables the tab or card to be inserted and retained, the device may be used simply as a coin and bill holder for maintaining coins and bills in readily accessible position.

The specially shaped card or tab will prevent competing companies from using identically shaped tabs and the company giving the oil change prompter will also have its name and advertisement on the front surface of the body. The attaching means may be on the back surface, on the bottom surface or even on the end surfaces as desired and may be in the form of an adhesive or some mechanical means such as magnets, fastening bolts or the like. If desired, the device could be illuminated and made of any material although it is preferably made of plastic and will fill a definite need for drivers who are constantly fumbling and searching for coins or bills when approaching a toll gate. It has been known that accidents have been caused by persons not giving their full time and attention to driving while they are searching for coins or bills when approaching a toll gate. This is especially true on toll roads when a roadside sign warns that a toll gate is a mile or two ahead. It is quite customary for drivers to immediately reach into various pockets trying to locate sufiicient change to pay the toll. This results in a highly dangerous situation since the driver usually fails to realize that he is travelling at a high rate of speed and even a fraction of a second of inattention to his driving duties may result in series results. Thus, the present invention serves as a safety factor since the driver may easily have access to coins and bills without taking his eyes from the road while maintaining complete attention to his driving duties.

Thus, the present invention provides a functional, purposeful, compact, easily made and simply constructed device that prompts the operator of a vehicle to change oil after required mileage and provides a means by virtue of the special shaped tab or card and pocket for use of the device by the owning company and means for exclusion of use of the device by other competitive companies together with a novel means of holding coins and bills in a way that such coins and bills are individually visible, held securely, easily picked up for use with such combination of features serving the purposes of the owning company which gives away the device in promoting greater oil sales and by display of safety methods or company name and advertisements and the device also serves the need of the vehicle operator to know when to change oil plus having a coin and bill holder readily available.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be restored to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An oil change prompter and coin and bill holder comprising a body, said body having a plurality of substantially parallel grooves therein for receiving coins, said body having slot means extending therethrough for receiving a folded paper money bill, means on said body for attachment thereof to an interior surface of a vehicle in position for ready observation and accessibility to the vehicle operator, and means on said body for removably receiving a specially shaped tab having indicia thereon for indicating the mileage of the next oil change, said tab and indica thereon being visible to the operator of the vehicle for prompting him in making the oil change.

2. An oil change prompter and coin and bill holder as defined in claim 1 wherein said means receiving the specially shaped tab includes a pocket opening vertically to the top of the body, the front wall of the pocket being cut out, the bottom edges of the pocket and the edges defining the cutout in the front wall being substantially V-shaped for receiving a triangular tab insertable and removable frorn the top of the body.

3. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for receiving the tab includes a horizontally disposed pocket having one end thereof opening to one end of the body, the front surface of the body having a triangular cutaway portion revealing the pocket, said tab being triangular for insertion and removal through the open end of the pocket and provided with indicia thereon for observation through the cutaway portion.

4. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said means on the body for attaching the body to a dashboard includes a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive on the rear surface thereof for attachment to a vertical component of the dashboard.

5. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for attaching the body includes a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive on the bottom surface thereof for attachment to a generally horizontal component of the dashboard.

6. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the front surface of said body includes a slot extending diagonally downwardly and inwardly for receiving a folded paper money bill in addition to the slot communicating with the top surface of the body, said bill slot communicating with the top surface of the body being disposed between the grooves receiving the coins.

7. An oil change prompter and coin and bill holder comprising a body of parallelepiped construction, the top surface of said body having grooves therein for receiving coins, said coin receiving grooves being wedge-shaped for frictionally gripping the bottom edge of the coin, the coin groove nearest the rear surface of the body being deeper and wider than the front groove thus receiving larger and thicker coins.

8. A device for prompting a motor vehicle operator to change lubricating oil at the proper mileage and for holding a plurality of different sizes of coins in a position for easy accessibility and observation by the vehicle operator, said device comprising an elongated parallelipiped body having adhesive mounting means associated with one surface thereof for mounting the body on a support with the body in a position for easy access and observation by the operator of a vehicle, said body including a pair of substantially parallel grooves communicating with the top surface thereof and being laterally spaced from each other, said grooves terminating above the bottom surface of the body with the groove adjacent the rear surface thereof being deeper than the groove adjacent the front surface of the body for holding larger coins, the side walls of said grooves converging downwardly thus forming grooves of substantially wedge-shaped cross-sectional configuration whereby only the bottom edge portions of the coins in serted into the grooves will be frictionally gripped by the walls of the groove, the depth of the grooves being such that a substantial portion of the coins inserted therein will be exposed above the top surface of the body for easy grasping thereof, the categorization of the coins as to their dimensions enabling a desired coin to be selected by virtue of its position in relation to the front and rear surfaces of the body thereby enabling such a coin to be selected without direct observation by the vehicle operator, said grooves being inclined vertically with the bottoms of the grooves being disposed toward the rear surface of the body as compared with the upper end thereof, said body also including an elongated slot extending from the top surface thereof to the bottom surface thereof for receiving folded bills, said slot being inclined and substantially parallel to and intermediate the grooves whereby folded paper bills extending upwardly above the top surface of the body serves to enable a person to distinguish between the coins in the forwardmost and innermost of said grooves, the top surface of said body having an elongated groove formed therein between the forwardmost coin receiving groove and the front surface of the body and defining a vertically opening pocket, the bottom of said pocket defined by inclined bottom surfaces, the front wall of said pocket being cut out with the bottom edges of the cut out area of the front wall being parallel but spaced slightly above the bottom edges of the pocket, the inner ends of the bottom of the pocket and the cutaway area being substantially at the center of the body and the outer ends thereof being substantially at the outer ends of the top surface, and a triangular tab having bottom edges engaging the bottom edges of the pocket inserted into the pocket and being retained therein by the inclined edges of the cut out area on the front wall, said front wall of the body having an elongated slot therein with the slot extending downwardly and inwardly and communicating with the bottom wall of the body, said slot being disposed below the bottom of the pocket and adapted to receive folded paper bills.

9. A device for supporting a plurality of coins of different dimensions, a folded paper money bill and an indicating card in position for easy access and observation by a motor vehicle operator comprising a body having generally parallel top and bottom surfaces and generally parallel front and rear surfaces, and being elongated with the ends thereof rounded, said body including a pair of longitudinally elongated grooves extending downwardly and inwardly from the top surface thereof, said grooves being substantially parallel to each other and provided with downwardly converging side walls thereby forming wedge-shaped grooves, the groove closest to the rear wall being deeper than the groove adjacent the front wall for receiving larger coins, said grooves being of dimensions that will assure a substantial portion of a coin received therein projecting above the top surface of the body, a slot in said body disposed between the grooves and being inclined substantially parallel thereto for receiving a folded paper bill, said body having a pocket adjacent the front wall with one end of the pocket opening to one of the rounded ends of the body for receiving an indicator tab having information thereon relating to the mileage for the next oil change for the vehicle, said front wall having a cut out area spaced inwardly from the peripheral edges thereof, said cut out area communicating with the pocket and revealing the indicator tab disposed within the pocket for revealing the indicia thereon to the vehicle operator, and means on said body for mounting it detachably on a vehicle in a convenient position for the operator.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,136,163 OBrien Apr. 20, 1915 2,411,053 Ornsten Nov. 12, 1946 2,497,365 McMurtry Feb. 14, 1950 2,650,698 Castner Sept. 1, 1953 2,653,703 Krauss Sept. 29, 1953 2,801,477 Adams et al. Aug. 6, 1957 2,820,430 Pulaski Jan. 21, 1958 2,990,950 Alexander July 4, 1961 3,027,995 Littman Apr. 3, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 89,886 Sweden Aug. 3, 1937 109,808 Sweden Feb. 15, 1944 

9. A DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING A PLURALITY OF COINS OF DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS, A FOLDED PAPER MONEY BILL AND AN INDICATING CARD IN POSITION FOR EASY ACCESS AND OBSERVATION BY A MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR COMPRISING A BODY HAVING GENERALLY PARALLEL TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACES AND GENERALLY PARALLEL FRONT AND REAR SURFACES, AND BEING ELONGATED WITH THE ENDS THEREOF ROUNDED, SAID BODY INCLUDING A PAIR OF LONGITUDINALLY ELONGATED GROOVES EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY FROM THE TOP SURFACE THEREOF, SAID GROOVES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER AND PROVIDED WITH DOWNWARDLY CONVERGING SIDE WALLS THEREBY FORMING WEDGE-SHAPED GROOVES, THE GROOVE CLOSEST TO THE REAR WALL BEING DEEPER THAN THE GROOVE ADJACENT THE FRONT WALL FOR RECEIVING LARGER COINS, SAID GROOVES BEING OF DIMENSIONS THAT WILL ASSURE A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF A COIN RECEIVED THEREIN PROJECTING ABOVE THE TOP SURFACE OF THE BODY, 